| So here is what’s going to happen today. Everyone got a piece of wood when they came in the door. That wooden stake and represents that you are all stakeholders in the new church we are building.
I’m going to start by doing a little bit of teaching from the book of Acts and then go right into talking about our vision as a church for the future (as best as we can discern it, that is).
The book of Acts that Gloria read for us describes how in the early 1 st century church there came a point where they decided to not just be a small group but tell others about Jesus. They turned outside to their community and they did this a certain and specific way. There was public preaching of the message of the good news of Jesus Christ and God’s spirit began working powerfully through the followers of Jesus in that local church. In Acts 2 we read that there were 3000 people who turned their life to Christ - 3000 people who got connected to Jesus in one day in that one church. Can you imagine that? So there was this group of Jesus’ 12 disciples and just a few others who had came to follow Christ. Remember now, this all takes place after Jesus had been killed and after the resurrection (Easter). So they preach this good news message and tell the story of Jesus publicly and 3000 people join this one church in one day. Then if you look in Acts Chapter 4 there’s another influx. They do it again. They preach this message of the good news of Jesus Christ and how He transforms lives. And on that day they add another 2000 people to this church. So now (by Acts chapter 4) they have 5000 brand new followers of Christ running around this church. Can you imagine? They‘re all learning and growing and leaving their old ways. Iit had to be amazing, I’m sure. Lots of energy and enthusiasm in that church (5000 new Christ followers). And in this little church (that’s now pretty big) everything is going along great. Its all going very good and it just keeps getting better and better and things were just going up and to the right on every graph in that church. But then watch what happens in Acts chapter 6. That whole church becomes vulnerable because it faces its first church wide challenge/problem.
Acts 6:1 Describes the problem
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Greek Jews among them complained against the Hebrew Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
So, there was some breakdown in the care ministry system (when they would feed people that were hungry) and it looked like there was some prejudice or certainly something seemed to be unfair and people were pretty upset and so now the whole church was put at risk.
Now check this out. Here’s what happens when a church faces a church wide challenge. Sometimes the problem is not handled well and it leads to the eventual demise of an entire church
I’ve seen this happen dozens of times (in churches) during a season of challenge leaders drop the ball or communication becomes messed up or the congregation fights each other and what happens then is this: the evil one wins the day, and the church goes all the way down to defeat.
Other times, churches maybe do a partial job of handling a challenge, but that church, from that point on (it was winning – it was prevailing) just muddles. It spins its tires and usually a church that muddles and is stuck in the mud long enough eventually falls into demise as well. I’ll tell you what: this country is heavily populated with churches that started strong but then muddle for years and years doing nothing but keeping the doors open. And many of you have seen that with your own eyes and felt it in your hearts. The church I grew up in was like that, it was strong and vibrant but then there was some challenge in front of it when I was in college (something about the youth ministry or style of worship experience) and those leaders who were faced with that challenge just didn’t lead boldly. They didn’t face certain problems that needed to be faced and they didn’t point out things that clearly should have been pointed out. And that church began to muddle and people got mad and fought each other and leaders left and that went on for several years. Finally the church split and it’s been on the decline ever since (the church I grew up in – the church our family served in and drove 40 miles one way to attend) 15 years of decline and the evil one has won the day. There are families in that small town that haven’t spoken to each other for 10 years because a church just didn’t respond well to a challenge
See folks, when churches face challenges, their whole destiny as a church can hang in the balance. Some go into a free fall right away and others just muddle a long time until they go down. Ever wonder why the average church size in North America is somewhere just under 100 people? Let me tell you, it isn’t because those churches are dealing with their issues and challenges and it isn’t because they’re focused on becoming alive, attractive, faith-prevailing communities. No, usually churches are just not willing to face challenges or if they do face them – they muddle in them for years until they become ineffective.
Okay, are ready for some good news?
There are other times when churches rise up and face problems/challenges and with the power of the Holy Spirit overcome those challenges. Then with new vigor and passion they go up and to the right and prevail like never before.
Now, lets continue… Acts 6 Verse 2-4 says “So the Twelve (leaders of this church) gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
See, they have a church-wide challenge. There is unfairness in the food system; prejudice in their care ministry and people are complaining and getting hurt. These twelve leaders gathered and they gathered all the other leaders together and said it wouldn’t be right for us (those who preach and teach the scriptures) we can’t neglect that, to wait on the tables and straighten out this care ministry mess, so were going to choose seven people who are obviously followers of Christ and are full of wisdom. We’re going to give them the challenge of turning this care ministry problem around and we’ll keep focused on what were doing and then it says (vs. 5): Acts 6:5
“This proposal pleased the whole congregation.” And so they chose Philip and Stephen and a few other fellas and prayed over them and sent them off to fix this hole in the church.
Then verse 7 closes this story up. “So the word of God spread and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly.” The church began to grow again.
People, this is a great bit of history for us to study. I love it because it proves that a church can pull together (with the power of God) and it proves – that a church can work through a sizeable challenge and come out stronger on the other side and it proves that a church’s best days can be beyond the big challenge.
See, history records that that little local church went on to grow and grow and grow and 1000’s of more lives were transformed and added to it. History records that from that one church, as they sent people out to other cities, the message of Jesus Christ was spread throughout the entire world. In fact, we sit here today in this church because that church in the book of Acts prevailed and didn’t fold up when a challenge came before them.
This ties in exactly to where our church is at on this day. We’re facing a sizeable challenge right now and I personally think it’s one of the largest one’s we’ve ever faced in the history of this church. This weekend I want to review that challenge for you so we’re all clear on it. This is not a time to dodge the issues but this is a time to just talk openly about our church and about what hangs in the balance for our future.
Nearly 5 years ago (Jan. 2001) we gathered the leaders of this church together and had a meeting. At that meeting we talked about the future of our church We had just come through the greatest days of growth and expansion in numbers of people this church had ever seen. In the 5 years prior to that meeting (from 1996 – 2001) our church had more than doubled in size and during these years many of you came in and found a relationship with Christ. This church was hopping. What incredible days those were - lots of new life spiritually.
But at that meeting in January 2001 we talked about what we needed to do to continue to move forward and to continue to be the church God wanted us to become. One of the things we all knew we needed was more space because this church facility was never designed for ministry for more than 1000 people. Certainly we couldn’t grow beyond the point we were at in our present facility and so we knew that that was the challenge before the leaders of this church 5 years ago (to build a bigger church). So at that meeting, the group of leaders decided to ask all of you to join them in facing that facility challenge and correcting the problem so that we could keep pace with where God wanted to take us.
When those leaders asked all of you in February of 2001 to join with them on taking that challenge, you voted overwhelmingly in favor of moving forward to a new facility and really right then it felt the same as Acts chapter 6 “The proposal pleased the whole group” And so we began to make plans and raise money and design a facility that would take us into the future.
For 3 years, that’s what we did. We prayed and worked and designed and gave money and some might say we’ve muddled a bit. Some might say that - I’m not sure - but if we muddled at all, I will take full responsibility for that muddling. I think the only fault we’ve had in this whole process is that we have been overly cautious and really that caution has only cost us time. During those 3 years (from 2001-2004) there were also huge victories. Let me remind you about three or four of those.
1. New Land Deal
In 2001 we thought we’d sown up a deal on three different pieces of land to the east of Saskatoon on College Drive and both of these deals fell through badly. It got pretty gloomy for a season sitting on that Facility Planning Team. But that team prayed and Dave Scott led us to God first and then in time to our present land location. Every step in that land deal God just put exactly into place. We have people who want us as neighbours and who are excited about sharing road costs and sewer and water costs with us. This land deal is so much better than our old one and we were able to pay cash for that land. It was an awesome blessing.
2. Sold this Facility
Again, we faced challenge after challenge trying to find buyers for this facility and it took forever, or seemed to. Then it felt like we kind of settled for a deal when we sold this to Remai Devopments and their initial thought was to tear this place down. But in those next months, Rock of Ages church connected up with Ellen Remai and made a deal and God was all over that. Remai Developments has been nothing but kind to us and to this whole Rock of Ages thing, I say - only God!
3. Claudio Priolo/Brad Hamm
In 2001 when we started this Chapter 6 deal I was pretty much alone in leading, preaching and managing the church. Gloria and Elizabeth helped me but I have to tell you to be sustainable, we needed some other great leaders and managers on our staff.
God led Claudio Priolo and his family and Brad Hamm and his family to us and let me tell you, they saved the day for our staff and for my life. I was running at an unsustainable pace in 2002 and I think God knew I wouldn’t last. Those two guys have been life savers for me and for us.
4. Raised Enough Money to Start
We started with cash in hand, which we never thought possible in 2001. The other blessing is that to date, we haven’t incurred any debt. We will only start using any outside bridge financing this month which means a huge saving in interest charges. Furthermore, the project so far has come in at or under budget all along the way, which is amazing especially with the price of steel fluctuating like it is these days.
Claudio Priolo and Larry Plett have done a fantastic job. Pray for those guys and their families in the months ahead.
And during these past years many of you people (170 families to be exact) surrendered your lives to God and listened to what He was saying to you and you obeyed (surrendered, listened, obeyed and gave) and because you gave, we see that facility going up.
Folks you need to hear this. Only God could have done what He did in these past 3 years. We’re very blessed and He deserves all the praise for what’s been going on. Now I need to talk straight for a minute. Starting something and finishing it are 2 different things and this month and this weekend we find ourselves at the crossroads of challenge as a church. Just like in the early church in the book of Acts, we have a challenge in front of us. How are we going to deal with it?
Let me review the challenge very clearly. We have enough money to finish phase 1 of our new facility and that will be great. It will mean there will be ample kids and youth ministry space and more meeting rooms and a gymnasium - more space than we’ve ever had. The plan has been that we’ll use the gymnasium on the weekends for our adult weekend service celebrations and that we’d finish our main auditorium/sanctuary (worship center) at some future point.
Well, for over a year now our focus has been on doing just that. But while that plan has been activated and the facility has been going up, we’ve been doing a lot of investigating into what it’s going to mean for our church to wait on finishing Phase 2. We’ve been trying to figure out what it’s going to mean for us to wait several years to build an adult worship center and the question we’ve been asking as the leaders is this:
What are we risking by not finishing our worship centre? What is at risk to our church if we move into a gymnasium for the weekends for a few years?
So to answer that question, I’ve began meeting with other church leaders, primarily in Western Canada and some in the U. S., and all these leaders lead churches that have built new facilities in the past 18 months, along with a few that built facilities 3 - 4 years ago. These leaders had much advice for us and we’ve heeded it in many areas. As we talked with them, every one of those seasoned leaders said the very same thing about moving into a gym and putting off finishing the auditorium.
They warned us against it. They said, Dean, in order to position the church for growth; in order to create the greatest opportunity for the church; in order to optimize the momentum of a new facility inside the church; and in order to fully realize the potential of this new facility in your city, you need to move into that new building prepared to grow in numbers immediately.
As you open the doors to that new facility, you need to be poised for growth and they said Dean, you can’t do that in a gym that seats 500 people.
And so I asked the next question. How much did they grow in numbers of people as they opened their new Facility? Their answers astounded me. Every church leader I talked to said their churches grew by 30% or more in the first 18 months after moving into their new facility and all of them continued to grow for several years to come -most doubling and tripling in size in the first 3 years. Think about that. So I decided to look harder for some other leaders to ask. The only church I could find that moved into a new facility and didn’t experience that growth moved into a partially finished building and never completed their main auditorium. They began meeting in the gym and their story of church decline and challenge and the years of muddling they experienced was enough for me. They’re still muddling.
I came home and I decided to pray about it more than I had and so from last summer and through the fall, several of us have been praying and asking God for direction. Claudio was way ahead of me on this one, by the way, but we’ve been praying and were lead to talk to other leaders in the church about it. As we’ve talked and prayed and listened, there was a real sense among us that we need to face this challenge now during this season of construction and that we need to build our auditorium/sanctuary now – not later - and that moving into a gym would just not be able to handle our needs as a church if we’re planning on growing.
See this church is a bit different than some other churches. Our weekend celebrations are not just church for us. Here’s what I mean – we see our weekend services as opportunities to introduce the good news of Jesus Christ (in very relevant and hopefully meaningful ways) to new people who are seeking spiritually.
These weekend celebrations are designed specifically for growth as a church. They are designed specifically for you to invite your friends and family and neighbors who are interested in spiritual things, and our promise to you is that if you invite people, we will make the message of Jesus Christ relevant and sensitive and we’ll speak and sing and we’ll connect Jesus with people in such a way that it’ll help those seekers find what they’re looking for. To be honest, it just makes sense - more in this church than a lot of churches - it just makes sense that our weekend services would have huge momentum and growth as we move into that new facility. It makes sense that moving into a gym won’t set us up for that growth.
We’ve put some plans together to position our church for growth by moving into our auditorium now instead of waiting what could be several years to even start it. You need to know that I haven’t been able to find one leader in our church who disagrees with the idea. Because if we don’t finish, there is great risk for the future of our church because not finishing what we start can cause muddling. If a church begins muddling and if it muddles long enough… you know the story.
There is just too much at stake for our future to not allow God to work through this challenge right now. So the leaders said let’s put this challenge in front of our church and see what God does with it and let’s see what God does with us as we face this challenge together.
So (there’s that word again) here’s what this all means. Again this is not a time to dodge the truth. The challenge in front of us is huge.
To finish the new worship centre/auditorium and complete that construction is going to cost 1.65 million dollars. Yeah – that’s a big deal. Certainly on our own, none of us can accomplish it but throughout the past few weeks God has led a few among us who have just stepped up and bitten into this challenge big. Their faith has encouraged us greatly and we hope it encourages you. Just 15 families (mostly very meager income families), who believe in what God is doing here - families who surrendered their lives to God (surrendered, listened, and obeyed) - have pledged $500,000 towards this goal of 1.65 million. That leaves $1.15 million left for all of us. For the nearly 300 families that call this their church, 1.15 million over the next 3 years… for 300 families.
Now, here’s what I want to do next. I’m going to answer a couple questions that I’ve been asked and give you my thoughts or comments on the questions I’ve received so far.
First Question/Comment: I’m still giving to the last fundraising campaign. Do you want me to do more?
Well the answer is, thanks for giving and yes – we’re asking you to surrender/listen/obey and maybe to extend your current pledge and giving to Chapter 6 by 2-3 years. If you haven’t completed your original giving (and say you’ve got 16 months left on that pledge, we’re asking you to think about extending that pledge 2 – 3 years. We know it’s a big request but this is a big challenge that’s before us
If the 150 families that are still contributing to this project would continue to anchor the rest of the church; if those of you who have led will continue to lead in generosity and extend your pledges for another 2 –3 years; that would register over $500,000 of this goal. So think about it – surrender – listen – obey. And then there’s 200 new families who call this your church also who have yet to give to this new facility. We’re asking those 200 new families this week to surrender, listen, obey and follow the lead of those who have anchored this project for us.
Second Question/Comment: I don’t like giving towards a building. I’d rather give towards ministry and people.
The answer to this comment is pretty straightforward. We have always fully believed that this new facility is about ministry, and that it’s about people. In fact the only reason we are putting up a new facility is to support more ministries and more people. There is not another reason to do it. None. When you give to Chapter 6 and our new facility, you are giving towards a ministry that will change thousands of peoples’ lives because of what God will do through our new church. There’s no question about it.
In fact I’d love to sit down with anyone of you who can find a better place to put your money for God than in the church. I’d love to have that discussion, because God is transforming lives right in front of us every week. This is a great place to give money.
Third Question/Comment: All I ever hear about is this new facility. Dean, what are we going to do and where are we going as a church after it’s done? If this is Chapter 6, what’s Chapter 7? Well I’m so glad you asked.
For those of you who want to multi-task or for those who need assurance that our future is about more than just this new facility I can tell you this. There are more faith-filled ideas and God thoughts around our future right now than ever before. In fact, there’s more than you could ever imagine. Let me tell you about some of those dreams. People are dreaming about reaching inner city folks in ways we never have before. People are asking God for new vision around how we can further assist in housing projects and literacy and food distribution. People are also sensing a call to develop new ways to reach children and youth within our city with the message of Jesus Christ. I think this is a significant change in the future of Lakeview Church
Because reaching this next generation for Christ is the most forward-looking important task we have if we want a sustainable, prevailing church for our kids.
Also, there is a desire to provide multiple worship opportunities and worship venues with different styles of corporate worship as the future unfolds. The idea is that there might be little Lakeview Churches that meet all through the week - some on our new campus and some throughout the city - with the idea that we might grow smaller as we grow larger. And to this I say: Awesome! God is giving us new ideas and dreams and visions everyday about how He wants to lead us into the future.
But clearly if you really want my thoughts on the significant changes coming down the pipe in Chapter 7, it will be mostly about a great expansion of care ministry and how we will meet the needs of the poor and illiterate and marginalized people of this city If you want my opinion, the next 20 years are going to be about giving our lives, our prayers, our time and our resources to trust God to make a difference in peoples lives in the inner city. That’s the future.
And I’ll step out a bit here by faith and say one more thing about the future. I have a great desire to see churches across this city and province become healthy, growing, prevailing churches and I really believe part of the future of Lakeview Church will be to partner with and resource and help sustain and strengthen leaders from churches all across this province who are struggling and muddling - leaders who don’t know how to get to the next level, We need to be strengthening churches that the enemy thinks he’s got because they’re ineffective.
Well I’ve got some news. The enemy doesn’t have them and you know what? You know why helping other churches are going to be part of our future? Because once you’ve been part of a prevailing church, a church that God can use to change a city, once you’ve been part of a church like that, you want it for everybody. When you’re a part of a church that worships God freely and cares for the poor and sees hundreds of lives being changed; when you’re part of a church that prays bold prayers and trusts God for answers; and part of a church where there’s new life breaking out all over the place spiritually; when you’re part of a church like that you just want every church around you to experience life like that in their prevailing church
I want that opportunity for every person in Saskatoon. I’m so tired of hearing that people’s church experience is lame and tired and ineffective. And I think God is going to call on us to do something to fix that in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan in the years ahead.
So folks, if you’re looking for something beyond this new building, it’s all there and it’s all good. God has much in store for us in Chapter 7. But the reality is you don’t get to Chapter 7 without finishing Chapter 6 and that’s why we’re here today - to finish Chapter 6.
We don’t want to dream so much about the future that we forget the steps in front of us. So there’s what’s in front of us and it’s a huge challenge but it’s a challenge we must not take lightly.
This week you’ve been invited to come out to our new facility to attend a 1-hour meeting/vision tour to find out how you can be part of meeting this challenge in front of us as a church. I want to tell you, GO, make it a priority. Don’t sit on the fence. There’s too much at stake.
During the last 3 weeks we’ve told you very clearly:
Let me take you up one notch today when you came in you received a stake. If you didn’t get one, make sure you do on the way out. I gave you a stake for a pretty simple reason. Prevailing churches are filled with people who are stakeholders in the dreams and visions God gives those churches.
Prevailing churches are full of folks that commit their lives to see God’s work get done in their communities and if you call Lakeview your church, (then I need to tell you) we need you to be a stakeholder in solving this challenge in front of us.
Here’s what I did with my stake. I wrote the names of three people who have been seeking but haven’t found a relationship with Christ yet - three people that will join us in the future in that new building and folks, that’s what I believe God is going to do.
If a thousand of us pray for and invite just three people each to join us as we follow Christ, suddenly that new facility just isn’t looking so big anymore.
So write on that stake. Hold it in your hands. Maybe it’s a ministry area you’d like to be part of in Chapter 7. It’s going to take all of us. We’re going to take this stake and put it in the foundation of our new church.
Why do this? Because that is what prevailing churches do – they step out in faith and expect God to bless that step.
Stand with me and pray. |
